Associated Press

Americans are getting an extra day to file their taxes after key elements of the IRS website crashed on deadline day.

The IRS said that individuals or businesses with a filing or payment due today now have until midnight Wednesday to complete the task.

Earlier today, Americans who had waited until the final day to file online got an unwelcome surprise: The agency’s website for making payments and gaining access to other key services was down due to what Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin later described as a “high-volume technical issue.”

The website is now back online.

“This is the busiest tax day of the year, and the IRS apologizes for the inconvenience this system issue caused for taxpayers,” Acting IRS Commissioner David Kautter said in a statement. “The IRS appreciates everyone’s patience during this period. The extra time will help taxpayers affected by this situation.”

No additional paperwork is needed to get the one-day extension, the IRS said.

The IRS snafu also caused problems for popular third-party tax preparers such as Turbo Tax and H&R Block. Both said that they would hold on to customer tax returns and file after IRS system reopened.